Alonso not concerned by fight from Vandoorne

McLaren Honda Formula 1 Team driver Fernando Alonso says he is not worried about any challenge from his highly-rated new team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne.

Although the Spaniard is aware that the Belgian no doubt has plenty of talent, the double world champion believes the current situation the Woking based squad is in, will not allow for a heated battle between the pair on track, as he explained to F1i.com recently.

“He (Vandoorne) is not a driver to fight for the title against me now, because our goal is something else.

“We must fight but also work together and help the team to make this difficult period as short as possible.”

Alonso had a highly publicised difficult relationship with Lewis Hamilton, the last F1 rookie he was team-mates with back in 2007, that ultimately cost both drivers the title that year, but the Spaniard does not see a similar story playing out with Vandoorne.

Alonso considers the Belgian to be a strong contender, but having had many different team-mates throughout his career, is not too concerned by another fresh face.

“He is a very good driver, he brings fresh air, he’s very talented as he demonstrated in GP2 and in Japan last year.

“I remember when I went back to Renault I had Piquet. Then came Grosjean who was also going to be very fast and was not.

“The same happened at Ferrari with Felipe (Massa); he was at Ferrari for many years and he was not faster. Then Kimi (Raikkonen), who everyone said is a world champion but he was not faster.